Topic: The ORD Way To YYC: LX+UA+AC On CUsername: ROGERBCNPosted 2012-11-04 10:29:22 and read 12984 times.

To YYC again, the ORD way today!

LX:BCN-ZRH-ORD // UA: ORD-AC: YYC on C.

Hola nois!

Back to the writing station, many flights flown in the last times and not so many writings... I was pretty busy and then my father's final months had settled me away from the mood of writing Trip Reports, not from flying though.

This trip occurred last summer when I went to visit my aunt for her 89th birthday, she is the only sister of my father's and she has lived in Canada more than 50 years now; she is quite responsible for my flying interest as she used to bring me all the memorabilia of her flights to BCN on the days flying was a total different experience, back in the 70s, 80s... and so on. On her last trip to BCN, back in 2006 she complained about how low the quality of airlines had gone.

Let's get down to the issues.

On my last trips to YYC, I have used a variety of airlines: KL in 2010 to use up my FlyingBlue miles, IB to LAX, then AC, in winter 2011 to use up my Avios, followed by the great experience of flying LX F last summer to SFO, so now it was time to pay some good money to LX, where else is your money being to be safer than in Switzerland?, for a flight to ORD and then AC to YYC. This combined with the possibility of earning a bunch of miles before the new M&M scheme came into effect on September 1st for LX flights. That was 200% miles earned even with the less pricey C tickets. LX was the chosen one, bought my ticket and then decided to stay overnight at ORD, despite the early scheduled arrival at ORD I decided not to take any risks when paying for the tickets so I looked for a hotel nearby and found a good deal at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. The next day I will board an UA flight to AC to YYC, which was the same price as the direct flights but you could add up more miles; so all settled.

August 19th, 2012.
LX1951BCN-ZRH
A321-111HB-IOF 'Winthertur'
In service with SR from 1995, then LX in 2002, to TK in 2004 and back to LX in 2007.
SDT: 6.30 // 6.35SAT: 8.15 // 8.20
Gate: B24
Seat 3A

All packed and settled by 5.00 when my nephew drives me to the airport. He drops me off at the main entrance of T1 and I go inside to the LX counter nicely staffed at this early hour. Crowded airport as it is in the middle of holiday season and a long line ahead is visible at security. No more than 10 minutes spent on line, pretty good for such a big amount of people. But let's go back to check-in; I had done my OLCI the day before, as a good a.netter, to select my window seats. I almost started crying when I saw there was none left for the ZRH-ORD flight, I tried my luck at BCN counter, no luck either... so I would fly across the Atlantic on an aisle seat for the first time in many years, I remember a flight back in 1997 where I flew YYC-FRA on AC on an aisle, since then, all of them have been window seats... let's keep reading and see what it has to offer.

My plane waiting for my ride to ZRH

After all the strict check-in had been done I went through security and off to the lounge to enjoy some well deserved morning coffee and some pastries getting ready for the boarding that starts right on time and by 6.30 we are ready to go.

As we push back we go over something, a hose maybe, and we stop for maybe a minute and then we continue to the usual morning runaway, 7R, leading North which saves a good time when flying to Europe (except for Portugal, of course!)

A view of T1 from the runaway

The maître-de-cabin welcomes us on board with a Spanish safety recording and then greets us personally in German and English. The bottles of water and the wipes have already been distributed. As we approach the runaway, the captain informs us of the weather conditions and the expected on time arrival onto ZRH, as the map shows the 857 km. must be completed in 1h20min.

Barcelona lights in the early morning

They are waiting to go into the city as well, so many people, so few space in Europe

We start climbing next to Barcelona which offers great views at this time of the early morning, when we reach 10FL the guys in front switch off the belt sign and the crew is free to move and prepare fro breakfast,as the plane is full they have quite a lot of work to do.

The coast slowly fades away as there are some minimal clouds due to the heat of the last days.

Seat pocket contents

My humble breakfast

They quickly switch off the inflight map and start the LX info together with some Mövenpick commercials. As we climb some moderate turbulence appears, I guess heat and pressure layers play its part here. We enter mainland France above Marseille.

Marseille from 34,000 feet waking up

The first Alps

As we approach the Alps some clouds can be seen ahead, so we must be approaching Switzerland, luckily they are just across the mountains, as we approach ZRH and go around the airport to land from the South we are greeted by great views of the airport, we go around Zürich lake and start our descend to land bang on time on runaway 34.

Clouds, we must be approaching Switzerland

What a ski resort looks like in summer

Some chocolate to sweeten bitter economy news

A view of ZRH airport. Pity the sun was facing me

Going round Zürich lake, a scenic approach

Big cousin from SQ was already waiting for us

I greet the crew, thank them for the nice flight and rush to meet Infodesk, aka Hannah, who is working today at the best office in the house, as she sits at the entrance of the observation desk she has a wonderful view from her seat of all the planes landing on runaway 34, all heavies march in front of her offering a great show. As we chat we look forward to meeting Flieger67, aka Markus, who is supposed to join us for this Sunday morning mini-A.netter meeting. Unfortunately he is delayed by traffic and I say my goodbye to Hannah thanking her for this enjoyable morning talk before boarding my flight to ORD.

When I leave Hannah's terrific office I walk down to security and after two layers of escalators I get to the mini-train transferring to the E gates, showing my passport before boarding is all the procedures I have to go through, then up again to the E-gates where there is another passport check set up by American authorities, the area is quite packed and I go up and down the terminal until I stop in front of one of the most beautiful liveries out there, Oman Air has recently started flights to ZRH and they send this beauty, some a.netter reported that it is not only beautiful on the outside but it seems inside it is a great airline as well, so keep this in mind while the final call for boarding my flight to ORD is made.

Beautiful livery for this gorgeous plane

My ride to ORD, a brand new plane for my brand new route: ZRH-ORD

A sister plane to India

A great relief, a true LX winglet

As I enter the aircraft, greeted by the crew at the gate I realize that this is a new plane, it looks pristine clean and I am the last C passenger on board, there is only one seat left, my 8G is there unoccupied, no way of moving next to a window one... snifff! Some guys seating by the windows have their blinds down already, why on earth do you ask for a window seat if you already have the blind down even before the push back has started? Be aware that seat 9K has only one window so no place for a.netters.

The cabin feels very roomy , the non-aligned seats look great and comfortable as I try them for the first time, enough room to move on it, plenty of room for your feet and enough places where to place everything you may need during the flight.

View from the seat: enough legroom and the corridor on my right side

Our routing for today's flight

Push-back is delayed by ten minutes as we are waiting for some connecting passengers, they are soon on board and the maître-de-cabin introduces us to this flying experience. Meanwhile some water, juice and champagne are offered by the crew to passengers. I go for the water , quite early for some bubbling.

As we taxi the captain informs us of the flying route and perfect timing for an on-time arrival onto ORD. We soon get to our runaway threshold, 16, exactly the same one I have landed before but just the opposite side. Hannah and Markus wave goodbye from her office as the plane starts slowly climbing on to the European skies.

View from the seat: enough legroom and the corridor on my right side

Our routing for today's flight

Right before the English Channel they start service with a nice glass of champagne, a glass of water and some salty snacks. As I am about to open the snack bag, a lady on 7A jumps out of her seat, over 7B lady to get a crew member. Ms. 7B seems not to feel very well, she is still and seems to have problems breathing, rapidly the crew assists her and the maître-de-cabin takes control of the situation, brings an oxygen bottle and applies the mask to her and immediately grabs the microphone to say the magic words: 'Is there a doctor on board? Please come forward to the crew' A minute later a gentleman from Y-class comes forward and starts his medical duties, a whole medical set is presented to him; among other things there is a defibrillator and a stethoscope, which he grabs, puts around his neck and uses it as any doctor would do in his/her office; the cabin has turned into a medical room over 30,000 feet above sea level. Ms 7B seems to recover and answers the doctor questions without problem, Ms 7A, who seems to me her daughter, is relieved... we all are, the crew keeps performing their lunch time duties and keeps distributing meals. The maître-de-cabin has been all this time next to the doctor and the 7A&B passengers performing as a trained nurse assisting the doctor in all his needs. Once the episode is over, the paper work starts, all the medical instruments are locked again into the emergency kit and the doctor fills up a record form. Both ladies and the maître-de-cabin thank him profusely and he adds to his thanks in the name of LX a bag with a couple of wine bottles and some other stuff. The doctor comes back a couple of times during the flight to see how Ms. 7B is doing, a nice gesture of him.

Back to the flight, we left it at the snack moment, then the starters come along, a nice tray with chicken terrine wrapped in cured ham and blueberry chutney, a small side salad with grapefruit is on it, too. The warm bread is presented on a tray and drinks served right after, I go for the red French wine from Bordeaux, really nice Château Pontet Fumet, St. Emilion Grand Cru AOC, 2006 (lot older than the plane itself). Then the main comes in: I go for the chef, Alexander Kroll from Widder Hotel Zürich, signature dish: Zurich Geschnetzeltes (sliced veal with mushroom cream sauce, potato rösti and broccoli with flaked almonds). Nothing special in my opinion, plus the quantity is quite scarce, it may be OK for a shorter flight but for Trans-Atlantic trips I'd think a larger portion should be available. Once done with all this and trays are taken away the dessert trolley appears on the corridor, I go for the vanilla mousse with Bourbon butter peaches. Really nice, ready for an espresso and some Bailey's which leads me to a nice nap once I put the seat down, which is down, very down... almost to the floor, It is flat and wide enough to allow you to have a nice rest. I enjoy my time lying down and watching some movies on the IFE which offers more than enough entertainment for an 9/10 hours flight.

IFE control and commercial for the House of Switzerland in London

My first drink and snack

My entree. Love the little bowl for olive oil

Drinks anyone?

My main dish

For the ones with a sweet tooth: Dessert trolley

My choice

Espresso and Bailey's perfect end

When I get up again, I go round the cabins, except for First class, to see a full plane. On my seat again I really miss a window now but keep myself entertained with the inflight map, we are over Northern Canada now and the service is ready to start again.

General view of C main cabin

The nice linen are placed on the tray again, by the way, a tricky tray especially to store it, many people need the crew help for that matter, not myself (a.netters have to be able to do it in their own) but I have to try several times until I am able to store the folded tray on its original place. The light meal consists of a small bowl in which four small, not one more, not one less, beef meatballs, orechiette and a vegetable salad are served to you, all swinging in red pesto-mayonnaise... nothing else; quite sad in my opinion, LX has seen better times.

The crew has been very nice assisting passengers in all their needs, they have interacted well and performed their duties with enthusiasm and kindness, not a fault here, very consistent.

As we approach ORD runaways, the cabin is set for landing and we land without incidents on time. It seems everyone is happy and for the first time I exchange some words with my fellow passenger, a middle-aged man from Chicago who travels quite often this route to visit his family in Israel. As I disembark I greet Ms. 7 A&B, the crew and off to the American border, no problems here today as I explain my plans of leaving tomorrow for Canada.

Once outside I opt to go around the different terminals at ORD, none better than a bus terminal, no cafeterias or shops around just check-in counters so I go to the main area for hotel transfers, after long corridors under the roads I appear in front of the Hilton Hotel where all the coaches stop. Mine is already there and I step in for a 10 min. ride to my hotel. I am alone, it is early, ca. 2.00 pm, but the room, offering nice views onto the runaways, with 7 runaways it is difficult not to have one insight. From my room and wrapped around a towel after a refreshing shower I am able to take some pictures of the planes taking off in the area.

I decide to go around the area for a walk, as usual in the US I am the only one walking in an area filled with hotels, offices and a huge conference center. I spend the rest of the afternoon reading, loading pictures into my computer and transferring them to the web using the free wifi connection at the hotel.

....and wake up at 4.00 am, against all odds I get to sleep again until 7.00 when I get up, have a shower and head to the airport. It is till three hours for my flight but I am able to check in at the kiosk but only a boarding pass comes out, UA only gives me the ORD-UA lounges and finally set at the one at the C gates, the roomiest one with nice views of the planes parked. Before getting to it I discover there is an airbus that takes you from terminal 2 to the C gates at Terminal 1 on the tarmac. I go for it, enjoying my ride among the parked planes and having for a while the feeling of a ramp worker. I wish I could be one for a day or two at this busy airport.

My first breakfast round, notice all plastic

ORD traffic

Big heavies from the ground

I pay regular visits to my gate area, a rounded corner at the end of the C concourse with small planes to nearby destinations. It is quite crowded. The screen show all the information you may need: boarding times, destination weather, plane type and registration... perfect for a.netters.

The C concourse

Destination information

More information

August 20th, 2012.
UA3634ORD-SAT: 13.32 // 13.45

Today's service is operated by one of the 44 CRJ-700s on GoJet airlines, aka United Express, regional partner of UA, with flights to and from UA main hubs: Chicago, Denver and Washington Dulles.

A sister plane next to my gate to

A nice plane with a filthy interior, boarding is slightly delayed, once on board I am greeted by a cheerful flight attendant who welcomes everyone on board and even cracks some jokes with many passengers. After the manual safety demonstration and making obvious, every time she puts her arms up, then the plane is not the only one that needs a refreshing shower... the captain welcomes us on board and gives details of this 90 min. flight to

Lake Michigan east coast

My snack for this short flight

Glad to see the winglet still there

Nice legroom

Very close to

Canadian landscape offers nice fields and some scattered clouds around the sky. We start our descend and land safely at YYC
A320-214
C-GKOE
In service with Air Canad since Oct. 2002.
Gate D37
Seat 4A
SDT: 15.00 // 17.10SAT: 15.20 // 17.25

As I am an unaware of the distances at this airport I go directly to the gate, which is quite far away. I get there moments before boarding is supposed to start. The area is full, so I expect a 100% load, no mistake, it is full, the last unoccupied seats will be taken by crew members of AC Express, so is my neighbor.

The whole transferring experience at YVR it is much more comfortable as you do not have to leave the inner airport area and it is less crowded and easier to follow, as long as you have a good pair of legs.

My ride to YYC

An A319 oldie, seen her last year at YYC

The plane starts filling up slowly but steady, no free seats on sight. It looks clean and fresh, with a nice atmosphere, the crew seems nice as well as they offer us the daily press and some refreshments, I go for water.

The seats are great, very comfortable and roomy. I immediate switch on the IFE as it starts working on the ground so you can have a nice take off with music, really great feature.

Once everybody is on board we get to our take off runaway, 23, quite far from the main terminal. It takes quite a while to reach the 10FL, we fly for a long time on the 6,000 feet range.

Turning into the active

Wheels up!

Ontario countryside

As we pass Lake Huron the menus are distributed and I go for the steak, it was so good, I forgot to take a picture of it.

My menu (1)

My menu (2)

Lake Huron
The rest of the menu is the typical North-American style, a small side salad, a small entry and a sugary cake which I set aside. I go for an Italian red wine which perfectly accompanies the meal.

Towel service before lunch

Snack service before lunch

Salad, wine and bread, a perfect start

Cookies and ice-cream. Great end!

Meanwhile we keep flying at 34FL across the US until North Dakota where we cross into Canada.

Before we start our descent ice-creams and cookies are distributed, very nice to accompany the last moments of the flight.

We go round the airport to land from the east on a warm sunny Calgarian afternoon.

Calgary airport on sight

A shopping mall

Calgary two heavies service to LHR and FRA

A smaller version of ZRH?

Parking, notice the cranes: a new runaway and a new terminal due to open in 2017

After deboarding I go down to collect my suitcase which arrives without incident some minutes later.

All in all a great experience, LX disappointed me for the first time as far as food is concerned, the rest excellent, the UA and AC flights were excellent, except for the minor incident of the missing boarding pass.

If you have read until here please post your comments. Glad to answer them.

Stay tuned for return flights: 2 nights in a row spent on planes. A survival experience.

Salut!

Roger

[Edited 2012-11-04 11:09:38]

BTW, does anyone know where this underlined font come from? I sure did not post it like this.

Thanks for the report. Did you get enough privacy from your neighbour when you travelled in 8G on LX? I only flew on a K seat till now but cannot get that currently unfortunately. I have the same dilemma as you. No window seat!

Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 3):I sure did, it is not a total privacy as the divider is quite of a joke, but seats and tables are wide enough to keep your privacy safe.
K seats are great, except for 9K, only one window.

Hi Roger

Thanks for your swift reply. I am booked on 5G at the moment, so am in the mini cabin in the front. Flying the A340 though. Hope they will be more generous with food on my flight. Flying ZRH-NRT which is their longest route they fly.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):As I enter the aircraft, greeted by the crew at the gate I realize that this is a new plane, it looks pristine clean and I am the last C passenger on board, there is only one seat left, my 8G is there unoccupied, no way of moving next to a window one... snifff! Some guys seating by the windows have their blinds down already, why on earth do you ask for a window seat if you already have the blind down even before the push back has started? Be aware that seat 9K has only one window so no place for a.netters.

Yes, that's the same feeling I have when I don't get a window seat.

An excellent report and great pictures. A very good service that is being offered in Swiss in the business class, probably you are used to the excellent service of Swiss with your flight in F to SFO and some more flights.

I know ZRH airport quite well from the a.net meetings (while visiting SR Technik maintenance, the terrace, the spot for taking pictures next to the runways, the distribution systems for the luggage, etc.) so I always enjoy reading the reports with this airport. Even on meetings we fully visited LX planes that were parked, including the A340, so it is really enjoyable (yes I know it's quite a while ago, but I always remember this).

Hope I can get the opportunity to fly LX longhaul, currently for my business trips I stick with Qatar Airways, and on my next trip to the US in December, for skiing in Vail Colorado, I will try Delta.

LX was great, only the food was alittle bit down my expectations. Flying First was a one life-time experience, I really looked forward to having an upgrade, but none of the flights had any seats left. I wa so spoiled last year that I would not hesitate flying it again.

QR seems to be a top-notch company, so I guess you have no complaints on that. BTW, how many flights do they have to MAD? Have they added a new one like EK?

Vail in winter for skiing is a great place. Enjoy it! I have only skied on the Canadian Rockies and it was amazing. Hope to read a TR from those DL flights.

LX had great fares and their miles eraning scheme was perfect... ailas! until Sept. 1st when they adopted the new M&M earnings... only 750 miles for transborder flights across Europe. It was great before, for 300€ you could earn 8,000 miles on a BCN-ZRH-TXL and back. Not anymore! Now you need to pay 800€ at least!

Quoting MFC (Reply 8):Me too! Perfect for dipping bread! and much more healthier than butter.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 7):QR seems to be a top-notch company, so I guess you have no complaints on that. BTW, how many flights do they have to MAD? Have they added a new one like EK?

Yes, Qatar offers a top-notch product in business class and as they offer a 2-class configuration on their planes, the business class with Qatar is more like an F-class.

EK now have two daily flights to Madrid on 777-300, it's surprising the huge success they have and that they came so late to Madrid, they started in Madrid in 2010.

QR flights are daily to Madrid, and alternate the morning with the evening flights, depending on the day. When I started flying to the Middle East, they just had 4 weekly flights with an A332 or A333, now they fly the 777-300. I will return this week or next week to Madrid on QR, but I guess I have a red-eye flight, so it's not so good for pictures.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 7):Vail in winter for skiing is a great place. Enjoy it! I have only skied on the Canadian Rockies and it was amazing. Hope to read a TR from those DL flights.

Yes, this season I will go twice to Vail from Madrid, now in December and later for Easter holidays. And hopefully I write a trip report. But you know that the writing of a trip report is always time-consuming, but I will try!

Regarding LX it really looks excellent. Too bad that the Star Alliance presence in Spain is now reduced to just Lufthansa and Swiss mainly, but anyway after reading your report it would be a good choice for a future flight!!

Thanks for your comments Eric! I was curious about QR as when they started BCN they used an A319-ER, then changed to A330s, and the schedule varies like in MAD, afternoon or morning depending on the day.

Yes, the presence of *A in Spain has vanished since the disappearance of JK, I used to fly them, a so-so experience, but not worse than IB or UX; loved their MDs and B717s, especially to PMI, a nice short flight on great machines.

It's a shame that SWISS have began showing the seatmap online even before booking. That way the best seats get taken right away. It was better back in the days where you could only reserve seats over phone at the SWISS call centers. This was an unpublished service, and with hardly anyone taking advantage of it, you could easily score the best seats on the plane.

SWISS do however still seem to offer a fantastic Business Class product, absolutely loved my flight with them in C, and have to make it back there someday, somehow.

The breakfast on the BCN-ZRH leg looked quite shameful in my opinion. They should at least have offered some cold cuts and fruit as well, and not just the muesli and yogurt. I guess with the trashed earnings of P class on M&M there's no point anyway to fly C intra EU. The catering on the long haul segment looked really nice, especially the presentation.

Great to see your report online, as always. Thank you for bringing back happy memories of that sunny August morning. I don’t often get two a.net visits in one shift, so it was a special day!

I know you are a loyal LX fan, but some aspects were certainly disappointing. First of all the lack of window seat on the ORD leg, that was such a shame. I find it hard to believe that so many others booked their window seats so far in advance. Secondly of course, the food. The breakfast on BCN-ZRH was quite shameful. The main meal on the ORD leg looked ok to me, but you say the snack was poorer than on previous flights. It does seem that LX are trying to save money here, but with the reduced miles the C-Class package has definitely become less attractive.

The meal on AC looked good, indeed as I remember from your report last year.

Good to hear that the medical emergency was dealt with so efficiently and that Mrs 7B recovered.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):Back to the writing station, many flights flown in the last times and not so many writings... I was pretty busy and then my father's final months had settled me away from the mood of writing Trip Reports, not from flying though.

For sure not the easiest time to be writing trip reports, you have to be in the right frame of mind.

Quite shameful to see the damage left by all the wide ski runs that cut through the tress.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):as she sits at the entrance of the observation desk she has a wonderful view from her seat of all the planes landing on runaway 34, all heavies march in front of her offering a great show.

Beautiful indeed. And a welcome splash of colour between the sea of red & white.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):Some guys seating by the windows have their blinds down already, why on earth do you ask for a window seat if you already have the blind down even before the push back has started?

This is one of my pet hates. I remember my LHR-CDG flight on the A380, there was no window on my row and the guy behind pulled the blind down, what a waste of a good seat.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):We soon get to our runaway threshold, 16, exactly the same one I have landed before but just the opposite side. Hannah and Markus wave goodbye from her office as the plane starts slowly climbing on to the European skies.

I saw that your plane was about to leave, left the desk and went to the window to wave to you. When I returned there were a few perplexed faces waiting for their tickets!

Thanks for your comments. Yeah! P class is now a very low scheme for earning miles... really a pity! Anyway, their inter-continental product continues to be a really nice experience, even on an aisle seat; hope to get it on some more flights if the price is right!

Hola Abrelosojos!

Thanks for your comment. Really looking forward to reading about your LX experience, always a pleasure to see some one else's point of view.

Quoting infodesk (Reply 16):I don’t often get two a.net visits in one shift, so it was a special day!

It was a great start of the trip, really nice to see some friendly faces when travelling. Great memories!

Quoting infodesk (Reply 16):I saw that your plane was about to leave, left the desk and went to the window to wave to you. When I returned there were a few perplexed faces waiting for their tickets!

Thanks! I know you were down there, sorry I could not wave back... next time I'll make sure there's a window for me. No window, no trip.... heheheheh!

AC always leaves a nice impression to me, I think they do pretty well for North-American standards... at least every time I have flown them they have been a great carrier, maybe a little bit more friendliness of the crew would be perfect.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):Some guys seating by the windows have their blinds down already, why on earth do you ask for a window seat if you already have the blind down even before the push back has started?

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):Nothing special in my opinion, plus the quantity is quite scarce, it may be OK for a shorter flight but for Trans-Atlantic trips I'd think a larger portion should be available.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):The nice linen are placed on the tray again, by the way, a tricky tray especially to store it, many people need the crew help for that matter, not myself (a.netters have to be able to do it in their own) but I have to try several times until I am able to store the folded tray on its original place.

Ah, don't remind me of these tables...

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):The light meal consists of a small bowl in which four small, not one more, not one less, beef meatballs, orechiette and a vegetable salad are served to you, all swinging in red pesto-mayonnaise... nothing else; quite sad in my opinion, LX has seen better times.

Served from a trolley?

Quoting LH4116 (Reply 13):It was better back in the days where you could only reserve seats over phone at the SWISS call centers.

I clearly remember your TR to the US, it was one of the first showing the new C-class on LX, and I thought, man, that looks great, I wish I could fly it one day... just wait and when the opportunity came, here it is. Great!

Maybe the proportions of the food are subjective, but I can say that they offer the same food, more variety perhaps, than in long Intra-European flights, that is longer than two hours, for example you used to get the same food on ZRH-VLC as I did on that flight... maybe I was more hungry that day,

Tables are quite a pain, especially when you have to store them as you have to get to the exact point signed by an arrow, if you missed you are f****d, I had to help a lady next to me to store it over, obviously I succeed... a.netters know how to do it!

Food was served from a trolley, even the pre-landing snack; but it looked quite pitiful: a bowl containing the orechiette salad and another one containing the meatballs. That was all, the trolley looked empty!

Glad to see another report from your hands, it has been too long Nice to see you're still a loyal Swiss customer, judging from the experience you had you clearly chose the right carrier for your travels. I've had some Swiss flights in the past and although they were all shorthauls, I was always satisfied with the onboard service levels.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):I was pretty busy and then my father's final months had settled me away from the mood of writing Trip Reports, not from flying though.

I'm sorry to hear about your father. I'm sure he's now at a better place. And I understand, these thing don't entice your mood to write a TR.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):so I would fly across the Atlantic on an aisle seat for the first time in many years

Oh my, what a dreadful start of this trip. But you survived

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):and then we continue to the usual morning runaway, 7R, leading North which saves a good time when flying to Europe

The runway designations at BCN are the same as at BRU: 7 and 25. All of the times that I've been to BCN has seen our plane using the 25's. Is the wind direction before noon usually oppsite from the afternoon then?

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):Some guys seating by the windows have their blinds down already, why on earth do you ask for a window seat if you already have the blind down even before the push back has started

Exactly my point. Besides that, were they not instructed to raise the shades on TO and LA?

Thanks for your comments and kind words, great to hear from you again. Yes, I was not in the mood of writing, besides I usually use my weekends to write the reports and, in the past, I was busy those days.

Lx has upto today provided me witha great service so I would not mind flying them again, though the new earning for P class are well below my expectations.

Quoting sultanils (Reply 21):Is the wind direction before noon usually oppsite from the afternoon then?

It is basically due to noise restrictions 7R leads to the industrial area, son early planes taking off use this runaway until 7.30 aprox. then they use the regualr pattern. Obviously when winds change they use other configurations, my favorite is 20, across runaway, that leads to the sea, very useful if you go / come to / from PMI, MAH or IBZ.

Quoting sultanils (Reply 21): were they not instructed to raise the shades on TO and LA?

Excatly my thoughts, I was very impressed and thought they did it because an a.netter was at ORD that particular day, I thought it fulfilled all the info one may need to know about his / her flight. Only missing FAs phone number maybe?

It's convenient, but not good for us enthusiasts looking to have a great seat. Imagine being in the same scenario and not being able to get a window seat after paying thousands of € for a biz ticket. I bet you wouldn't be so happy either and wish the same, especially when most passengers (the general public who doesn't know a thing about types or registrations, who prefer windows just for sleeping and nothing more) who select window seats hardly even bother to look out anyway...

Quoting LH4116 (Reply 23): Imagine being in the same scenario and not being able to get a window seat after paying thousands of € for a biz ticket. I bet you wouldn't be so happy either and wish the same, especially when most passengers (the general public who doesn't know a thing about types or registrations, who prefer windows just for sleeping and nothing more) who select window seats hardly even bother to look out anyway...

First come, first served. Whenever I buy a ticket, I'm fully aware that I may not be able to secure the best seat in the house.

although I see your point, I was really pissed when I saw some people put their blinds down as they boarded the plane and went to sleep.... do you think they care for the view, although they had paid big money? My seat, 8G, would do for that behavior.

With regards the LX seat selection it is actually one of the few things that annoyed me when I was buying a J Class ticket I then had to call up and book them . I prefer online seat selection personally. Everyone in their booked class has a level playing field.

finally time and good to read you´re up to Canada story, well done, also nice pictures.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter): all heavies march in front of her offering a great show. As we chat we look forward to meeting Flieger67, aka Markus, who is supposed to join us for this Sunday morning mini-A.netter meeting. Unfortunately he is delayed by traffic and I say my goodbye to Hannah thanking her for this enjoyable morning talk before boarding my flight to ORD.

Terrible crowded roads this particular morning, hopefully next time.

Quoting ROGERBCN (Thread starter):. We soon get to our runaway threshold, 16, exactly the same one I have landed before but just the opposite side. Hannah and Markus wave goodbye from her office as the plane starts slowly climbing on to the European skies.

What a great flight you must have had! Sure a window seat is nicer, but I believe an aisle seat in C is surely bearable, too? I believe you reserved a window seat at booking, right? Strange that it has changed for an aisle seat...

For those of us who like to fly more, it is definitely worth checkin routing and fare rules. i.e. I could have flew EWR-BOG nonstop with UA last year, but I could also have flown for more or less the same price EWR-IAH-PTY-BOG...

I also like to split the trips. Call me crazy but I have this love for small American motels, as long as they are proudly led and clean. I had to stopover in IAH during this routing (as I wanted to get the 777 on EWR-IAH) and I choose a one star Knights Inn in Humble and it was georgeous. Could eat a burger at Wendys down the road. I don't know why I like that, but you just dont get these kind of hotels and "restaurants" here in Europe I believe

On a side note, if you book Delta, sometimes "unlimited" transfers are allowed. i.e. you can Fly FRA-YYZ, or you can fly FRA-AMS-CDG-DTW-CVG-ORD-YYZ or whatever... The problem is that it will take you a day or two, and you wont be able to book this through any online booking engine... If shedule is good you may even visit a city or two on the way, as you´re allowed to interrupt up to 24 hrs at any point...

I thought about one more thing. I don't know if this exists in Spain, but in germany there is an inurance called "Ticketsafe". It has basically to purposes: refund the price/rebook you if the airline goes bankrupt and cover rebooking costs/costs for new ticket if you travel on two tickets and have at least 2 hours between the flights in the two tickets. Since it only costs 5 EUR I sometimes subsribe to it when I have risky itineraries. It's a German insurance, but I don't see it restricted to German citizens reading the fine print. ticketsafe.de.

Another question: Did you had to collect your bags when chaning planes in http://www.hmrv.de/reiseversicherung...alversicherungen/flugticket-schutz

Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 28):We see you departing, looks like really good to know someone inside!.

Thanks for your reply. Great to hear from you! I was sorry you could not make it to ZRH that day, but great that you were able to wave goodbye to my ORD plane, I would have replied if only I had had a window.

@ Reifel

Thanks for your comments and advice.

Quoting reifel (Reply 29):Greetings from BCN "Sala VIP", have a great weekend!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend of flying all across the Iberian peninsula and the Balearics

I did not know about that, it sounds a pretty good deal, I'll have a look.

Quoting reifel (Reply 30): Did you had to collect your bags when chaning planes in

I guess you refer to YYZ. Yes, you collect bags after immigration, go through customs and then exit to arrivals, take the lift and recheck in a special area for connections, then security and into the departure area again....

Quoting debonair (Reply 32):I booked originally the special PIA "Business Promo" B773 BCN-ORD fare, but was later rebooked to LX C-class via ZRH! Thank you PIA!

That was another option, unfortunately PIA cut off the BCN-ORD-BCN leg before my travel dates... a great option to fly a great B777 across the pond at very reasonable prices. I do not see it coming back in the near future .

Great report Roger, thanks for sharing! LX sure seems to be doing a great job in C.

Your medical 'emergency' reminds me very much of my experience on board a LX in flight to ZRH this summer. First the crew with oxygen, then a doctor, and the purser always present. They acted very professional. Glad to hear your fellow passenger was alright, we made a priority landing at ZRH and the passengers was rushed off by ambulance!

Finally found time to read this report on your trip to Calgary. Great report with many nice pictures! Looks like you had a bunch of enjoyable flights all together, although I agree on the food quantity on your LX flight, a bit poor IMHO.

Fantastic report as always Roger! Sorry to hear LX was not up to their usual high standards. I still have yet to try them out as plans just never seem to work for me. Good to see that UA and AC worked out well for you.